Shower head



Sept. 14, 1965 c. H. BENTLEY .SHOWER HEAD Filed June 20, 1962 INVENTOR. 6214/95/76? 6 Bf/V7115)" United States Patent 3,206,234 SHOWER HEAD Clarence H. Bentley, Downey, Calif., assignor to Modern Faucet Mfg. Co., Los Angeles, Calif., a corporation of California Filed June 20, 1962, Ser. No. 203,990 3 Claims. (Cl. 285-268) This invention relates to an improved means for attach in g a showerhead to piping.

It is an object of this invention to provide means whereby a showerhead may be affixed to piping in an economical and easily applied manner.

Still a further object is to provide such means whereby a Watertight seal is provided and which becomes tighter as the water pressure is increased.

Other objects and advantages will be readily apparent from the following description:

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of a device embodying this invention with part thereof broken away.

FIGURE 2 is a view taken along line 22 of FIGURE 1 FIGURE 3 is a View taken along line 33 of FIG- URE 2.

FIGURE 4 is a view similar to FIGURE 1 illustrating pivoting of the showerhead.

FIGURE 5 is a side elevation with parts broken away illustrating a modified form of the invention.

The showerhead illustrated herein is of the general type described in my prior United States Patent No 2,580,722, although many other types of showerheads lend themselves to the embodiment of this invention.

The body of the showerhead is formed of a relatively resilient material such as polypropylene or other plastic well known material well known to those skilled in the art, having a spherical shaped surface 12 formed at its uppermost extremity.

The ball joint body 14 is formed of a relatively rigid material, for example, any suitable plastic well known to those skilled in the art, having the usual internal threads 16 to screw onto the Water supply pipe (not shown), at the upper extremity of the body. The lower extremity 18 of the ball joint is hemispherical in shape and receives therein the complementary spherical shaped surface 12.

An outer casing 20 in this embodiment formed of brass surrounds the showerhead body 10 and the half ball or hemispherical extremity 18 of ball joint 14. The casing is formed from a tubular member, preferably of metal as shown, which by a suitable die, is necked in at the upper and lower extremities 22 and 24 to engage the ball joint 14 and showerhead body 10 and retain the two together while, due to its bowed shape shown, it exerts a constant bias urging the two together while permitting universal pivoting of the same as illustrated in FIGURE 4.

In FIGURE 5 a modification is illustrated wherein like parts are given similar numerical designations with the addition of the exponent a. In this embodiment both the showerhead body 10a and easing 20a are rigid and the ball joint 14a is formed of a relatively resilient material. In either structure, water pressure Within the ball joint and showerhead creates a seal which becomes tighter as the pressure increases.

The surface 12a may have a groove 26 formed therein to receive a resilient washer 28 to form an additional seal. In addition, a further seal 30 may be provided between body 10a and easing 20a which seats in a shoulder 32 in body 10a urging same upwardly toward ball joint 14a. This seal will prevent leakage and build up pressure at the sealing point between ball joint 14a and easing 20a.

While what hereinbefore has been described as the preferred embodiment of this invention, it is readily apparent that alterations and modifications can be resorted to without departing from the scope of this invention and such alterations and modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a showerhead: a supporting body adapted to be secured to a pipe, said supporting body have a lower portion in the form of a downwardly open hollow shell of hemispherical shape and having substantially concentric inner and outer hemispherical surfaces; a generally tubular showerhead body having an outer surface at one end complementary to and seated on the inner surface of said shell in fluid-tight relation, the other end of said showerhead body being spaced downwardly from said shell; and a casing member of resilient metal enclosing said showerhead body but being bowed outwardly from the sides thereof to provide a continuous resilient bias between said body and showerhead to maintain said fluid-tight seal, the lower end of said casing supportingly engaging the lower end of said showerhead body and the upper end of said casing slidingly embracing a portion of said outer surface of said shell and being complementary in shape thereto.

2. A shower head as defined in claim 1 wherein said supporting body and said showerhead body are of synthetic resin material.

3. A showerhead as defined in claim 1 wherein said supporting body is of synthetic resin material, said casing and the major portion of said showerhead body being of metal, the lower end portion of said showerhead body being of resilient compressible material and held under compression by the lower end of said casing whereby to further urge said showerhead body into sealing relation to said inner surface of said shell.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 344,202 6/86 Robb 285261 918,144 4/09 Greenlaw 285263 1,056,811 3/13 McElroy 285-261 1,374,129 4/21 Wilson 285-26 1 1,434,631 11/22 Reynolds 285267 2,556,659 6/51 Patterson 285317 CARL W, TOMLIN, Primary Examiner. 

1. IN A SHOWERHEAD: A SUPPORTING BODY ADAPTED TO BE SECURED TO A PIPE, SAID SUPPORTING BODY HAVING A LOWER PORTION IN THE FORM OF A DOWNWARDLY OPEN HOLLOW SHELL OF HEMISPHERICAL SHAPE AND HAVING SUBSTANTIALLY CONCENTRIC INNER AND OUTER HEMISPHERICAL SURFACES; A GENERALLY TUBULAR SHOWERHEAD BODY HAVING AN OUTER SURFACE AT ONE END COMPLEMENTARY TO AND SEATED ON THE INNER SURFACE OF SAID SHELL IN FLUID-TIGHT RELATION, THE OTHER END OF SAID SHOWERHEAD BODY BEING SPACED DOWNWARDLY FROM SAID SHELL; AND A CASING MEMBER OF RESILENT METAL ENCLOSING SAID SHOWERHEAD BODY BUT BEING BOWED OUTWARDLY FROM THE SIDES THEREOF TO PROVIDE A CONTINUOUS RESILIENT BIAS BETWEEN SAID BODY AND SHOWERHEAD TO MAINTAIN SAID FLUID-TIGHT SEAL, THE LOWER END OF SAID CASING SUPPORTINGLY ENGAGING THE LOWER END OF SAID SHOWERHEAD BODY AND THE UPPER END OF SAID CASING SLIDINGLY EMBRACING A PORTION OF SAID OUTER SURFACE OF SAID SHELL AND BEING COMPLEMENTARY IN SHAPE THERETO. 